Shubh-Hub

Quotations

2008-04-12T12:33:00.001-07:00

"The world is cruel. And the only morality in a cruel world is chance. Unbiased. Unprejudiced. Fair." Two-face in The Dark Knight

"You know, this place makes me wonder. Which would be worse - to live as a monster? Or to die as a good man?" - Teddy Daniels in Shutter Island

"Frodo: I wish the ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.

Gandalf: So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world Frodo, besides the will of evil. Bilbo was meant to find the Ring. In which case, you were also meant to have it. And that is an encouraging thought." - The Lord of the Rings

"One Ring to Rule Them All. One Ring to Find Them. One Ring to Bring Them All and In The Darkness Bind Them." - The Lord of the Rings

“Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.” - Yoda, The Star Wars

“Do or do not... there is no try.” - Yoda, The Star Wars

"The Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together." - Obi Wan, The Star Wars

"When you decide to be something, you can be it. That's what they don't tell you in the church. When I was your age they would say we can become cops, or criminals. Today, what I'm saying to you is this: when you're facing a loaded gun, what's the difference?" - Frank Costello, The Departed

"Being sorry is a far worse punishment than being dead. Everybody dies. Very few people ever feel truly sorry for the bad things they've done." - Patrick Jane, The Mentalist

“You’re waiting for a train. A train that will take you far away. You can’t be sure where it will take you. But it doesn’t matter – because we’ll be together.” - Inception

"Don't you want to take a leap of faith? Or become an old man, filled with regret, waiting to die alone!" By Saito in Inception

"Dreams feel real while we're in them. It's only when we wake up that we realize something was actually strange." - Inception

"Jahan jayega roshni lutayega, Diye ka koi mukaam nahin hota"

"Be careful of what you wish for, cause you just might get it. " - Don't Know the Source

"If you can copy something and make it better than the original then may be copying is worth it" - Shubham Singal :)

"You got a dream, you gotta protect it. People can't do something themselves, they wanna tell you that you can't do it. You want something? Go get it" - Pursuit of Happyness

"Maybe happiness is something that we can only pursue. And maybe we can actually never have it no matter what." - Pursuit of Happyness
"This part of my life... this part right here? This is called 'happyness' " - Pursuit of Happyness

"Spartans, tonight we dine in hell" - 300" 'Our arrows will blot out the sun', 'Then we will fight in the shade' " - 300

"A senator asked me why we never use the word ‘the’ when we’re talking about CIA, I said to him, ‘Do you use the word “the” when you’re talking about God?’” - The Good Shepherd

"Shaheedon ki chitaon par lagenge har varsh mele, Watan pe mitne walon ka yahi baki nishaan hoga" - Rang De Basanti

"Koi bhi desh perfect nahin hota, use perfect banana padta hai" - Rang De Basanti

"Nothing fixes a thing so intensely in the memory as the wish to forget it." - Michel de Montaigne

"A lie told often enough becomes the truth" - Lenin

"There are two primary choices in life; to accept conditions as they exist, or accept the responsibility for changing them." - Denis Waitley

"The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary. Men alone are quite capable of every wickedness." - Joseph Conrad

"The healthy man does not torture others. Generally it is the tortured who turn into torturers." - Carl Jung

"The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone." - Harriet Beecher Stowe

"It has been said that time heals all wounds. I do not agree. The wounds remain. In time, the mind, protecting its sanity, covers them with scar tissue, and the pain lessens, but it is never gone." - Rose Kennedy

"Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls. The most massive characters are seared with scars." - Khalil Gibran

"We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark. The real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light." - Plato

"Fairy tales do not tell children that dragons exist. Children already know that. Fairy tales tell children that dragons can be killed." - G.K. Chesterton

"Well, who says relationships have to last forever?" by Celine in Before Sunrise

"Isn't everything we do in life a way to be loved a little more?" again by Celine in Before Sunrise

"I know happy couples... but I think they lie to each other!" - by Jesse in Before Sunrise

"You can never replace anyone because everyone is made up of such beautiful specific details. " by Celine in Before Sunset

"Memory's a wonderful thing if you don't have to deal with the past." by Celine in Before Sunset

"All we have is how you remember me - I want that memory to be strong and beautiful. If I know I am remembered that way - I can face anything ... don't you see? You're my immortality." by Sara in Sweet November

"Fact is, all lies, all evil deeds, they stink. You can cover them up for a while, but they don't go away. " The Inside Man

"And when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to acheive it." The Alchemist

"If you're good at something, you don't do it for free." by Joker in The Dark Knight

"Sometimes we put walls around our heart, not just to be safe from getting hurt, but to find out who cares enough to break the walls n get closer" from a friend's status message on gtalk :)

"All I am saying is that civilization crumbles whenever we need it most. In the right situation, we are all capable of the most terrible crimes. To imagine a world where this was not so, where every crisis did not result in new atrocities, where every newspaper is not full of war and violence. Well, this is to imagine a world where human beings cease to be human." by Yorish in The Invasion

"To be honest, ambassador, when someone starts talking to me about the truth, what I hear is what they're telling me about themselves more than what they're saying about the world." by Carol in The Invasion

"Aye, fight and you may die. Run, and you'll live... at least a while. And dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willin' to trade ALL the days, from this day to that, for one chance, just one chance, to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take... OUR FREEDOM!" by William Wallace in Braveheart

"Every man dies, not every man really lives." by William Wallace in Braveheart

lots of Coffee at night, keeps you awake and sit upright

2007-07-23T23:26:00.000-07:00

Coffee has been a dear friend to me for the past 6-7 years. During JEE it helped me stay awake at night, during IIT it again helped me study for my exams ( I love nescafe at IIT Delhi ), while working I liked visiting StarBucks and Barista, and now at IIM I am again using it to help me study. Definitely it is the life saver. Some random facts about coffee :)

Monks used coffee to stay awake and concentrate on what they were doing.
Coffee is the second most traded product in the world after petroleum.
The average person who buys coffee outside the office to consume at work will spend the equivalent value of a round trip plane ticket to Florida every year.
The word "cappuccino" comes from the 16th century Capuchin order of friars, whose hoods were called cappuccinos. A cappuccino is a coffee topped with steamed milk.
The most severe punishment for drinking coffee was being sewn into a leather bag and tossed alive into the sea.
"Coffee Smellers" were discharged wounded soldiers employed as spies to "smell out" unlicensed coffee roasting during the coffee monopoly in Germany.

Technorati Link Exchange

2007-07-23T19:40:00.000-07:00

It seems a lot of people are taking Technorati seriously. I found out about it a few months ago and since then have tried to get some links pointing here. Some posts got mentioned in DesiPundit, BlogBharti, Youth Curry and some friends have linked to my blog and my wordpress plugins have helped me reach a decent stage. But definitely I am hungry for more :) and hence am asking you all to please pass on link love to me. [In simple english please link to my blog ] I read on Melody's blog about the Link Exchange policies a lot of blogs are trying. I am also ready to be part of this program. She has a big list of sites on her blog participating and slowly I am also going to try to be a part of a good number of them. So besides my blogroll which features a lot of blogs, here are some more great blogs in which you all might be interested.

The Voice In My Head - Melody
Blogging for Money - Michael A. Setyaputra
Content Pays - Yogesh
Blog @ Fyais
Foreign Perspectives
RishiRaj
Deepak

Many more to come. Please do add me to your Technorati Favorites and subscribe to my blog's feed.

Indian Women: A medico intern’s perspective

2007-07-20T16:32:00.000-07:00

Things always don’t look the way we want them to be and sometimes we tend to think about things with so much triviality that we often go noticing only the superficies of any problem. Things in my life too had been sailing smoothly as an intern doctor until something struck me and made me realize that whatever high had I been thinking about my country is not what it in reality is. We can possibly keep talking about the progress our people have made in terms of boosting pays, improving lifestyles, better psyche.....and blah blah.... but are these things uniformly being acknowledged by everyone in our dear nation. On a usual day in hospital, with the only specialty of the day being an afternoon antenatal clinic meant for checking the health of the pregnant mothers, I didn’t expect any major change in my routine till I encountered the situation actually. Anywhere you go in world, u would find people sympathetic towards pregnant ladies, but this clinic is one place where we have to carry the utmost pitilessness with us because of the type of morons we get to meet. These are the women who turn up to hospitals leaving there minds back home so that whatever you ask them comes up with a nuke cold response which includes there previous details, investigations, addresses and even there personal attributes. I happened to stress myself teaching them a few to recognize some meaning behind there existence, to develop self esteem, to not act as submissively as they always do and stop being as dumb as they are, for education might make you more intelligent but a basic general sense can be imbibed inside you without even being literate. And the result of my lecturing amidst all that hot weather made me see those dumbos giggling. I also reciprocated with a smile that actually was that of aggression as well as frustration of where this nation is heading with this kind of population. Imagine this ignorance being a part of the national capital of India...what would actually be happening in villages!!!! Indian woman is losing its shine. We cannot keep talking about Kiran Bedi and Sushmita Sen type women all the time since the real proportion of women are this kind, whom we cater in government hospitals. And any act of making them feel they can all be is surmounted by their giggles at thoughtful things.

Imagine what would happen if this technology comes in India

2007-07-20T02:30:00.000-07:00

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U] I just saw this video and it is truly amazing. How the power of makeup and photoshop complement each other. It somehow makes you believe that probably none of the models are really pretty, nothing in this world is as beautiful as it seems in the advertisement. But somehow my thoughts are that if this power can be brought in India specially in the sector of arranged marriage then what will happen? I already know of a particular photographer in Kamla nagar, Delhi to whom lots of people come for bridal photos since they believe he makes them look much better than reality :). It is all about advertising the proposal you see. Quite Funny but definitely a nice business prospect.

Any publicity is good publicity

2007-07-20T02:27:00.000-07:00

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieSzsh4hJWI] I have started developing a new hobby, watching and enjoying short advertisements. They are humorous, they make you laugh, they are fun and consume very little time :). This ad is definitely a great ad showing the great ability of Coca Cola company to make any publicity good publicity. GTA had been in the news for not the best reasons in the world but still Coca Cola made this ad making the statement count that "Any publicity is good publicity" and definitely it is a pretty nice ad. P.S. Although I drink too much coke but this post has no bias because of that :)

Why do I keep changing my blog’s theme?

2007-07-19T19:43:00.000-07:00

Yes I did it again, I changed my blog's theme. I was using the old theme since about a month now and I again downloaded a new theme [wordpress has so many themes :) ] and applied it to my blog. This is also started to make me wonder, why do I keep doing this? What is this compulsive need for me? The reasons I think are many.

I am quite impulsive and I change everything around me according to my mood. I also change the look and feel of the site according to my mood, sometimes there are bright colors, sometimes a formal look, sometimes a depressed look, sometimes something else.
I get bored of things easily. Yups thats true. So I keep having a new theme and then I get bored of it and finally I change it.
Sometimes themes have problems which I am not able to deal with. The last theme had the problem that it displayed only one entry per page and hence it lost the appeal of the blog somehow.
It is so easy to apply a new theme. Wordpress is a dream come true and specially with some many theme releases and so many good themes listings around, it is really fun to pick a new theme.
I feel it will rejuvenate the blog. Yes the blog does start giving an old look and hence to make it appear new agai I apply another theme to it.

So if you guys/gals are on any other blogging platform, better switch now rather than later and get access to many many themes.

Parents!

2007-07-19T00:21:00.000-07:00

I can't help but feel ashamed of reading this news on BBC where a daughter instructed her sons to go and leave her mother far away so that can not trace the way and come back. Is this is the plight of old in India? Is this the way children should treat their parents? Why can't they give them poison instead? India is currently going through an economic boom, the growth rate is 9% per annum, we have a huge working population, and god knows what not. Everyday we see the big headlines about India and its glory. But what about people like this woman? They have been a part of India, they have worked and contributed in making it what it is today. But what have they got in return? Rejection from their children and from their government. How can people be so insensitive? I agree they might be a little insensitive towards strangers, but to their own parents. This woman kept you in her womb for 9 months, fed you, taught you to walk, and took care of you always. This is what you give her in return. You go and dump her in a garbage dump to die, die alone, die by hunger, and die by rotting. This is inhuman. Her savior Mohanasundari says that "There was no anger in her, only a flood of sorrow as she begged us to take her back to her daughter". I would also like to congratulate the Indian Government. This is the best way to remove the population problems of the country right? Lets just get rid of all our old citizens who can no longer contribute to the work force. The Indian Government always blames the children of not taking care of their parents, but what has the government done for its citizens? Have they ever thought of old age homes? a small pension for every citizen? Just someway to take care of them? No, how can we? We can't even take care of educating our coming generations, and you are talking about taking care of the old ones. In India there is basically no value of a person, life here is meaningless unless you have money. I pity this woman, I pity this nation, and I pity myself and all us citizens of this great nation.

Made for India

2007-07-18T23:51:00.000-07:00

I was reading in Bloglines and read the entry on Designing for Emerging Markets. I actually found it quite interesting and felt about writing on this topic myself. They have correctly pointed out that in order to become truly successful in India almost every company has to adopt the Indian Way of Life. For example:

MTV, Local VJ's, Local Content, Bollywood adaptation.
McDonalds, loads of vegetarian options
Subway, great amount of vegetarian options, had to blend taste.
Nokia, who can forget the 1100 phone, specifically made for India
Dominos, again loads of menu changes.
Pepsi and Coke, local heros, local advertising.

And many many more companies. Those who could not really change themselves to fit in, actually perished. So why is this change so necessary? The reason I think lies in Economics. The Indian market can be considered an oligopoly (basically a system with lots of competition in both demand and supply side) in almost every consumer related sector. Indian audience is a price taker and the suppliers are also price takers. Unless the companies are able to create a product specifically catering to the Indian Public, they are not able to charge prices which can make them profitable. Hence the need to make their products Indianized. Will this continue? Definitely Yes. The Indian Companies already understand the mentality of Indian People and hence design products specifically for them. Everyone would like a customized product and hence they sell only such products here. The foreign companies take some time in hiring Indian Nationals who can help them target the Indian Audience and that is where they sometimes lose out in the race. P.S. I am just beginning to learn economics :) but this is a small application of my little knowledge.

Another Puppet in the Making

2007-07-18T15:35:00.000-07:00

Who will be the next Indian President? No prizes for guessing this one. It's not Pratibha Patil, it is Puppet Patil of Sonia Gandhi. With this Sonia Gandhi completes her victory, one puppet in the PM post and another one in the President's post.
The best guy for the job, whom the entire country wanted, who everyone loves, admires and respects was not even considered for it. President A P J Kalam was truly one of the best presidents we will ever have. Will the new president be able to live upto his standards? Something tells me she is not even going to try.
So much dirt was thrown around. NDA defaming Patil, UPA also doing the same. The Third Front trying something or the other, end up doing nothing. Even Kalam was not spared. This is the new low of Indian Politics.
Election Commission, Supreme Court and every other power of this country was tried to get some advantage to somehow win this race. I really don't understand why? The President really does not have that much power guys, does he? I guess it was just the ego issue or may be politicians wanted to take the public for a ride and push up newspaper sales?
Newspapers reported this issue everyday, TV Channels had something to broadcast and I has something to write on :). A great election, an unnecessary struggle, another show of Indian Democratic Failure.

You can find more thoughts on this from Pranay here.

What have we been doing our entire life?

2007-07-17T18:20:00.000-07:00

Yes, what exactly have you been doing? What have you been doing since the day you were born and have continued doing that everyday of your life? Can you guess it? You have been "reading" people your entire life. You watch what others do and try to explain to yourself why they have engaged in their behavior. [Organizational Behavior, 12th Edition, Robbins, Judge]. I could not agree with this more. The moment a baby comes into this world, from the first second of his life to the last second of his life, we are constantly doing one thing. Seeing everyone and everything around us, seeing their behavior, what it means to us, its implications, how it makes us feel and then reacting to it. Recently I have started studying Behavioral Sciences. It is an amazing course for sure. I enjoy the part of being able to analyze how we can make organizations more effective by using concepts of Behavioral Sciences. Although it may seem quite early to apply it but making a small attempt. My earlier post about the different perspectives of Infosys as a company and as an employee actually got some attention in the blogosphere. Trying to apply some theory in it. The problem lies in the management of lots of companies (If I may dare to say that). The company values it employees definitely to certain extent because it gives them decent packages and good offices and tries to give them good work. But they are not able to intellectually stimulate their employees, they are not able to motivate them, not able to give them a feeling of superiority. This is where they are losing out. Their behavior towards their employees is perceived by the employees as not the best in the world Many other places these theories can be applied. I shall try to apply them (as and when I get time). For not this article has gone quite haywire, started from somewhere and ended somewhere. So thats it for now. Bye

Finger Football

2007-07-14T17:25:00.000-07:00

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UB-JF7wSnjE] I saw this video and was quite mesmerized by it. Football players made of these tiny fingers :) Quite different. Some people are saying this video is not real, well may be it is real, may be it isn't but surely its fun to watch.

Budweiser Commercial

2007-07-14T02:34:00.000-07:00

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdBXkJjTV7E] Although I know this will be computer generated still I find this advertisement quite amusing. May be you will also find it interesting :)

Celebrating the 200th Post

2007-07-13T23:34:00.000-07:00

So this is the 200th post on this blog :) I think this is quite an achievement considering that it has not been too long since I started this blog (about 1 year) and for the first time I have been able to stick to it and write somewhat regularly. So here are some stats about this blog as of now. There are currently 199 posts and 343 comments, contained within 68 categories. Akismet has protected this site from 9510 spam comments :) Thanks a ton for that. 10 Most Commented Post

Wordpress Google Maps Widget - 30 comments
Infosys adding Exit barriers, showing low self confidence - 13 comments
Why you should be on Orkut - 13 comments
The real killer of Jessica Lal is Shyam Munshi, Hang him - 11 comments
11 Mistakes of an Indian - 9 comments
Getting Through Indian Institute Of Technology Joint Entrance Examination - 9 comments
The Encounter With Delhi Gangsters - 9 comments
My Matrix - 7 comments
H1b Visas: A glimpse of hope, again blown away - 7 comments
How many matrimonial sites are too many? - 7 comments

Special Thanks to Divya, Naresh, Hiren, Puneet, Paritosh and many others for commenting :) There are currently 51 blog reactions to my blog. You can check out the details here . The maximum traffic in 1 day has been something around 2500 page views. On Average I receive about 105 page views every day. Thats about it for now. This post is all set to be published. Welcome to the post 200 :)

Debate: Adults reading harry potter books is simply infantile escapism

2007-07-13T01:54:00.000-07:00

I had the good fortune of taking part in a debate a few days ago and the motion was "Adults reading harry potter books is simply infantile escapism" and I was supposed to speak For the motion. So here is a small summary of what I spoke :) Escapism can be defined as a mental diversion by means of entertainment and recreation. It can also be said the actions people take to try to help relieve feelings of depression or general sadness. Now lets try and analyze Harry Potter. A boy in a world full of misery, full of trouble, an orphan, with a hating family goes to a new world, a world where he is the celebrity, the wonder boy, he is Harry Potter. It is simply escapism. While studying Erikson's theory in Behavioral Sciences I felt that such a story will directly appeal to the 3 stages:

7-12 Years Age, Industry vs Inferiority. A child during this age starts to compare himself with others. Some people excel while others don't. This book can be used as an escapism to feel special.
20 - 30 Years Age, Intimacy vs Isolation. A person during this period is able to get intimacy and company or suffers in Isolation. The book should appeal to the second kind.
Working People, Generativity vs Stagnation. People who suffer from stagnation indulge as if they are children.

Please don't interprete my point as that only such people read Harry Potter. Definitely not, in fact today so many people read it that no segment can fill them but these sections are directly targeted by the theme according to me. Superman, Batman, Spiderman. All were extremely popular comic books. Harry Potter is an extremely popular book. All have super powers, all have sidekicks, all have great enemies who are sometimes even more powerful that the hero but somehow the hero always wins. All of them appeal to children. Harry Potter does mistakes, he does forbidden things, he breaks rules, he also gets punished for them sometimes But Harry Potter always wins. Why? Because Harry Potter is special. Hermione works hard, she knows all the spells, she is given some credit in the book but in the end who saves the day? Harry Potter. Why? Because he is special. It was initially said that Harry Potter was given his look of an ordinary child to make him appear the boy next door and through this make the boy next door feel special. Today the adult wants to be that child, he wants to be Harry Potter. The world of magic provides an easy excuse for everything in the Harry Potter books. It is quite childish since in this world there are no rules and regulations. Evil can come back in innumerable ways and it does that. People advocate that Harry Potter shows you friendship, courage, standing up for what is right, it makes you deal with death, sorrow, successes and overall life. Exactly my point. This book is written with children in mind and it teaches them the various facets of life. That is the purpose, to make you learn about life about its complexities. People also say that the book is simplistic because most characters are black and white. Not true as of now since Harry Potter also has some grey shades now but in the beginning he didn't. In the beginning it was all black and white. In the end, I would just sum it up by saying that no doubt Harry Potter is an extremely successful book but it was targeted at children. Agreed it became a success amongst adults but the very fact that the publishers made new cover editions to endure adults do not feel ashamed of reading it in the metros and public places shows that even the publishers believed that it is for children. P.S. This was just a debate. Please don't target me. I am not against Harry Potter in any way in fact I love the movies :). So if you like Harry Potter then do go and buy his new book for sure.

New seven wonders - should we be proud?

2007-07-11T10:22:00.000-07:00

The New Seven Wonders of the World were announced amidst a glamorous ceremony and huge fanfare at Lisbon last Saturday. Taj Mahal was amongst the top vote winners which is not surprising considering the amount of publicity the event received the week before 07-07-07. News channels dedicated hour long specials and newspapers rolled out full page advertisements to encourage people to vote for Taj. Its selection was a matter of national pride - after all the hub of global outsourcing and the largest growing wireless network is expected to have enough web connectivity and SMS phones to get Taj through in the online vote. But was it worth it? The credibility of the voting system has already been debunked at the international platform by UNESCO. The competition was entirely a private effort kicked off by a swiss adventurer. The first vote was free but subsequent votes were charged $2. I can't even imagine the amount of profits he would have generated in this global scam - online advertisements, voting fees etc. Meanwhile, with the New Seven Wonders behind them, the website has already moved onto the next "wonder" voting - "NEW 7 WONDERS OF NATURE". In India (and I am sure in other places as well), several mobile phone companies and private websites jumped in to cash in on the new wonders craze - Rs. 3 SMSes to vote for Taj. Spam blogs came up with links to the online voting site pushed in one small corner and advertisements on the entire page. I ask again - did we need to convince (and pay!) an outsider to convince us that Taj Mahal is an architectural marvel?Do these private efforts mean anything - or are they huge money laundering global scams?

English is vague

2007-07-09T19:45:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Ravi Chandra for this. He kept this as his status for 2 days and finally I though I should mention it on my blog.Quoting from Wikipedia:

Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo" is a grammatically correct sentence used as an example of how homonyms and homophones can be used to create complicated constructs.

Check out the explanation and parse tree on Wikipedia.English is a funny language. Definitely it is. More information here.P.S. Yes I generally do tend to believe what I read at Wikipedia.

Is piracy a good thing?

2007-07-07T01:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was discussing with a friend on whether piracy is a good thing or a bad thing and ultimately we could not reach a conclusion. Piracy cannot be termed as a good thing or a bad thing but it can be best described as a necessary evil. Let me try and explain why do I call it necessary.I have been reading up economics as one of my courses recently and have started understanding some terms like elastic industries. The trouble with the world is that Art has become an inelastic industry. The world has always been and will always be divided into rich and poor classes. The problem starts arising when companies start making monopoly and stop catering to the middle and poor classes of the society or try to charge them exorbitant prices. The result is a backlash. Sometimes this backlash is in the form of an aversion for the product but in case of art even that is not possible resulting in alternate ways to get the product, yes that is piracy.I agree piracy is wrong, you are not giving the due credit to the artist, you are violating his right, you are doing a lot of wrong things but it is also quite difficult to make the industries of this world understand that people need some products and they need to lower their margins or adopt a different model to make money and keep everyone happy.Piracy has been successful in one aspect. It has broken the monopoly in some ways for sure. The success of Itunes, the talk about DRM free music, the situation where a person does not need to buy a full cd just because he likes one particular song is an example of this. Piracy is definitely not good and I believe in the long run will not stay, but definitely in the short term it will cause a desired effect, the effect of bringing some sense into a few industries.

David Blaine

2007-07-04T10:18:00.000-07:00

Who hasn't heard about David Blaine? He performs street magic for us mere mortals - amazing card tricks and baffling coin tricks - that is when he finds time from ripping his heart out on national television or dancing atop 100 ft high pillars. His stunts defy logic and reason and baffle even the most seasoned skeptic so much so that people call him God's or Satan's incarnation (choose your pick). One thing is for sure though - he could overtake Sathya Sai Baba easily with his "miracles" if he ever comes to India.A couple of guys amused by his awe inspiring tricks compiled a spoof video and I must say that it is better than the original :).Part 1:[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pl5PGWKD8MU]Part 2:

Aye Ajnabi - Dil Se

2007-06-29T22:49:00.000-07:00

Ho paakhi paakhi pardesiPaakhi paakhi pardesiPaakhi paakhi pardesiPaakhi paakhi pardesiPaakhi paakhi pardesiPaakhi paakhi pardesiAye ajnabi tu bhi kabhi aawaaz de kahin seAye ajnabi tu bhi kabhi aawaaz de kahin seMain yahan tukdon mein jee raha hoonMain yahan tukdon mein jee raha hoonTu kahin tukdone mein jeen rahi haiAye ajnabi tu bhi kabhi aawaaz de kahin seAye ajnabi tu bhi kabhi aawaaz de kahin seRoz roz resham si hawa aate jaate kehti hai bataResham si hawa kehti hai bataVo jo doodh dhuli masoom kaliVo hai kahan kahan haiVo roshni kahan hai vo jaansi kahan haiMain adhoora tu adhoori jee rahein hainPaakhi paakhi pardesiPaakhi paakhi pardesiPaakhi paakhi pardesiPaakhi paakhi pardesiAye ajnabi tu bhi kabhi aawaaz de kahin seAye ajnabi tu bhi kabhi aawaaz de kahin seMain yahan tukdon mein jee raha hoonMain yahan tukdon mein jee raha hoonTu kahin tukdone mein jeen rahi haiAye ajnabi tu bhi kabhi aawaaz de kahin seTu to nahin hai lekin teri muskurahatein hainChehra nahin hai par teri aahatein hainTu hai kahan kahan haiTera nishaan kahan haiMera jahan kahan haiMain adhoora tu adhoori jee rahein hainAye ajnabi tu bhi kabhi aawaaz de kahin seAye ajnabi tu bhi kabhi aawaaz de kahin seMain yahan tukdon mein jee raha hoonMain yahan tukdon mein jee raha hoonTu kahin tukdone mein jeen rahi haiAye ajnabi tu bhi kabhi aawaaz de kahin seAye ajnabi tu bhi kabhi aawaaz de kahin se

Savin’ Me

2007-06-28T15:59:00.000-07:00

Prison gates won't open up for meOn these hands and knees I'm crawlin'Oh, I reach for youWell I'm terrified of these four wallsThese iron bars can't hold my soul inAll I need is youCome please I'm callin'And oh, I scream for youHurry I'm fallin', I'm fallin'Show me what it's likeTo be the last one standingAnd teach me wrong from rightAnd I'll show you what I can beAnd say it for meSay it to meAnd I'll leave this life behind meSay it if it's worth savin' meHeaven's gates won't open up for meWith these broken wings I'm fallin'And all I see is youThese city walls ain't got no love for meI'm on the ledge of the eighteenth storyAnd oh, I scream for youCome please I'm callin'And all I need from youHurry I'm fallin', I'm fallin'Show me what it's like[Savin' Me lyrics on http://www.metrolyrics.com]To be the last one standingAnd teach me wrong from rightAnd I'll show you what I can beAnd say it for meSay it to meAnd I'll leave this life behind meSay it if it's worth savin' meHurry I'm fallin'yeah, yeahAnd all I need is youCome please I'm callin'And oh, I scream for youHurry I'm fallin', I'm fallin', I'm fallin'Show me what it's likeTo be the last one standingAnd teach me wrong from rightAnd I'll show you what I can beAnd say it for meSay it to meAnd I'll leave this life behind meSay it if it's worth savin' meHurry I'm fallin'And say it for meSay it to meAnd I'll leave this life behind meSay it if it's worth savin' me

Tera Mera Rishta Purana

2007-06-20T02:33:00.000-07:00

Tera yekin kyonMene kiya nahiTujhse raha kyon judaMujhepe yeh zindagikarti rahi sitamTune hi di hai panahTera Mera Rishta Purana 3Yeh kya tadap haiHai yeh kaise sazaTu kyun mujhe aaj yaad aagayaBechain din mereBechain raat haiKya mein karu kuch bataYeh mere paau hiKhud meri bediyaanUsse tu mujhe choodaTera Mera Rishta Purana 4kya mujh mein haiSakas woh keh rahaRaat mein tuKarz tera chukaAankhen hai nam meriSaasein chubhan meriZakham hua phir haraDil ke virane meinMere phasane mein tuhi tohar dum rahaTera Mera Rishta Purana 4oh Tera Mera Rishta Purana 2

Leaving …..

2007-06-19T14:47:00.000-07:00

So finally the D Day has come, my last day in office. What am I leaving behind .....

An H1B, the ticket to US of A and potentially working in New York.
My Project, which I would have loved to complete.
A really huge pay package.
An extremely comfortable chair in our newly made office in Noida.
Delhi, my home till now.
My tooti footi car.
IIT Delhi.
PVR Saket, Waves Noida.
Big Chill, Gola Sizzler, Not Just Paranthas, Cafe Rendezvous.
India Gate and its lovely chuski.
Lots and lots of friends and my family.

Yes I am leaving all this and going to IIM Calcutta. I am leaving an H1b, the thing which I was desperately looking for in the past one year and going. But I am not alone, a friend who got an H1b to join a leading Investment Bank in New York is also leaving it and going to IIM A and another is leaving an H1b with arguably the best technical firm in the world is going to MIT. This year US and H1b's have been given a thumbs down.Looking back at the past one year brings so many memories to me. There are so many people who have touched my life, I would like to thank them for it. It has been a glorious year, I learnt so much, I worked a lot, I enjoyed a lot, earned a good amount of money, sulked a lot :) (that nobody can deny), drank just too much coke, gained a good amount of weight (which I am going to lose soon), made lots of friends, met lots of interesting people, had my first experience into the corporate life, and many many more things. Yeah, and made my first proper blog with lots of entries ;) . It has been a great year, hopefully the years to come will be better. Cheers :)

Who will sustain for the longest time??

2007-06-19T13:46:00.000-07:00

I read this article regarding adjacent expansion. It says that blockbuster products, which change the fate of companies, come once in 10 years. Thus in the meantime it is very essential for a company to sustain itself and that is possible only through adjacent expansion, that is small products with medium growth. It says a company can expand it self in 3 different ways:

The company can sell the same product to different customers.
The company can sell the different product to same customer.
The company can expand in different countries.

So I thought of analyzing 3 technology giants using this strategyGoogle: Google is following the second strategy. It focuses mainly at its core competency of Web Search and makes efforts to improve it. But, also it has come up with products like Orkut, Gtalk, Youtube and Gmail which are moderately successful. Thus it has captured the same audience with its alternate products while not loosing focus of its main product. Thus by using the theory suggested by this article, Google is doing well.Microsoft: Microsoft is also trying to follow the same strategy as google very aggressively. It is selling different products using its core competencies to approximately the same customers. But it has really lost focus of its main product that is Operating Systems. Though XP was a success but Vista has been unsuccessful till now and has been criticized heavily. They have entered in music indsutry and video games through Zune and Xbox. Though Xbox has fared reasonably well, Zune as been a failure. Microsoft has the strategy to enter every possible technical product, in every possible country. A mixture of approach 2 and 3 and they are doing fairly ok as well.Yahoo!: Yahoo has actually explored all the areas using the second strategy. But, currently its market share is going down. According to me the reason behind is this declining market share is that Yahoo has never focused fully on one product and has made it its core competency. All its products are OK but not good. Earlier it was successful because there was no competition. Yahoo! has not been able to customize its product for different audience, nor has it been able to reach its customers in new products. In fact it has not even been able to retain its audience. Yahoo! as a portal is still number 1 but Google is slowly eating away customers with new products. Hence Yahoo! has not been able to do adjacent expansion and therefore is losing its growth.Who will sustain for the longest time, definitely Googe and Microsoft. Yahoo! seems to be slowly drowning for now. Well that is my point of view, what are your views do let me know :)

Women are equally unequal to Men

2007-06-19T09:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I read two very very interesting posts, the first one from Naresh about how women ask for equal right but extra priveleges as well and the other one from melody about how she once got a driver to park her car. My view on the topics are as follows:Most of the women in India are exploited, either by their families who give preference to the male child and don't provide education, by the society in various ways, by everyone possible. A small percentage actually reach a good position, by that I mean studying in good colleges, good education, good culture, groomed, independent, working.Now the small percentage which does manage this takes full advantage of this. They try to say they are equal to men and hence deserve equal pay, equal benefits, equality in almost everything they can get. However since they are women and can be exploited so they should not be given odd jobs, like staying very very late and other similar jobs. This however is acceptable, since women can be exploited easily they can be given some benefits.The reason why the title is Women are equally unequal to Men is that these small percentage of women actually have advantages over men in many many ways. I will try to illustrate some of them here:

Most of the companies actually want a healthy sex ratio and hence recruitment for women generally comes easy in many many sectors. If the choice is between a male and a female with equal qualifications then the company most likely will pick the female to get better sex ratio.
Women can use their charms to get away with things. Its not really their fault, in fact it is our fault but they can get away with a lot of things. My previous post has a really nice video just for that.
Most management institutes also want to maintain a healthy sex ratio and hence selection for females again is easier.
Some professions are custom made for women, like gynecology, sales, and many other jobs.
Women can ask for help in their mellow down voice at the time of crisis and then shout for equality later. I am not really blaming them, at the time of crisis people use every possible way to get help and women use their special trait "being a woman", all I am saying is that it happens.

This small percentage of women actually is at a more advatageous position than men. Moreover we mostly encounter (and want to encounter) this small percentage of women only.